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Arabs and Jews kill each other with revolting regularity over the land God promised to Abraham. Although not killing people over the land, some elements of Christendom use the media and their pulpits to make sure that we never forget that the land is the main thing. Consequently, evangelism and mission drown in the deluge of prophetic rhetoric over the future of the land. This diversion exacts a heavy toll on our missionaries in the Middle East.

Trying to be faithful to their calling, and to their sending churches in the US, they often find themselves subjected to incredible emotional pressures from folks who insist that the land is the main thing.

Isn’t it long past time for Christians to insist that the land is not the main thing, but the Lord Jesus Christ is? Pardon me if this sounds like spiritual pabulum, but I believe we must get tough with anything that detracts from the church’s focus on bringing people into God’s family under the lordship of Christ.

The apostle Paul got so riled up over the Galatian heresy of insisting on circumcision (Jewish legalism added to the gospel of grace) that I wonder what he would say about Christians trumpeting the cause of land for today’s Jews. Especially since he transferred God’s promises to Abraham to Abraham’s spiritual seed—those who receive the gospel of Christ.

I am particularly struck by the absence of land in the gospel declarations and promises of Jesus and his apostles. The great calls to repentance and faith do not link with any claims to land. The apostolic injunctions to holy living and worship say not a word about the land.

Even Abraham himself acquired no property except for a burial plot. The great testimony of his life was that he sought a better country—heaven—and so should we. Paul told us to focus our desires on things above, not on things earthly. He called for faith that claims unseen, immaterial promises, not promises of land.

Somehow, in certain segments of the church, we have allowed the collision of Arabs and Jews to cause us to lose sight of the major New Testament theme. Some people get so emotionally involved over this fight that they wrap themselves in prophetic flags of interpretation that cloud their vision of what God’s kingdom is all about, namely righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Some folks apparently have forgotten that after God gave the land to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac that they polluted the land with idolatry and were carried off to Babylon. It may well be that one day Abraham’s posterity through Isaac will gain control of more than a tiny foothold. But if we look at all the prophecies we find that his posterity through Ishmael also has considerable blessings to inherit. How this will all work out is beyond me, but I do know that we cannot claim prophecy as legitimizing anything and everything the modern Israelis do in their quest for land.

While battles erupt over the mystery of Israel’s future, we must acknowledge that this was not the mystery that consumed Paul. He saw something totally new that ripped the land right off the map of the world. It was “the mystery of Christ” unknown to previous generations. What did he see? Not national Israel and real estate, but “through the gospel Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:6). What promise was that? Salvation, forgiveness and everlasting life in the Father’s heavenly kingdom, not land.

Thus, the apostle’s passion for preaching “the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery” (Eph. 3:8-9). Once his passion becomes our passion—and the passion of all segments of the church—then we shall show the world that the land is not the main thing, but our Lord Jesus Christ is. Anything that detracts from the overwhelming centrality of the mystery of Christ must be abolished.